1. Field of the Invention
This application relates generally to perpendicular magnetic recording heads, and more particularly to methods and systems for characterizing the geometry of a generally trapezoidal portion of a perpendicular magnetic recording head writing pole.
2. Description of the Related Art
In perpendicular magnetic recording, the magnetic transitions formed in the magnetic medium are written by a writing pole in proximity to the magnetic medium. The widths of the magnetic tracks written by the writing pole depend in part on the geometry of the portion of the writing pole (i.e., the “footprint”) in proximity to the magnetic medium. It is therefore useful to characterize the geometry of this portion of the writing pole.